


Black Widow: Code Red

by MatrixOfWumbo



Series: MCU: After Infinity [2]
Category: Black Widow (Comics), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Espionage, F/M, Gen, Post-Endgame, Spy Natasha Romanov
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-20
Updated: 2019-04-30
Packaged: 2019-10-31 19:38:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 19,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17855708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MatrixOfWumbo/pseuds/MatrixOfWumbo
Summary: The world was pulled back from the brink of unthinkable tragedy, but Natasha Romanoff is still a wanted woman. And when a figure from her past ensnares Bruce Banner in a web of conspiracy, what choice does the Black Widow have but to be caught up as well? (Takes place after an alternate version of Avengers: Endgame)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story diverges from the normal MCU at the end of Avengers: Endgame, my version of which - The Infinity Epilogues - serves as part 1 of this series. However, there's relatively little needed from that story to read and enjoy this one. As always I appreciate feedback.

_Here's what you need to know:_

_Ten months ago the King of Latveria was deposed by some sort of rogue militant group. Details are scarce, but in the ensuing civil war the members of the king's inner circle - the ones who survived - were driven out of the country. They've since infiltrated regional crime syndicates, running weapons, smuggling, human trafficking, all the greatest hits. Intel suggests they're pooling funds for another bite at the revolutionaries. But whatever tin pot dictator is presiding over Latveria, they can wait. 48 hours ago Rudolfo and Zorba Fortunov, heirs to the throne, arranged a meeting with Vasily Karpov II, ex-KGB, recently-outed HYDRA, and high ranking member of the Red Room. Up until now Karpov was the only member of the Room left unaccounted for. That's where I come in._

**|Black Widow: Code Red|**

* * *

It was pouring rain in the Romanian forest where the Fortunov Brothers currently made their home. A trio of figures in grey raincoats, one clearly trying to look dignified standing in the heavy garment, waited outside of a wide, low tent. Before long the lights of a truck pierced the gates of the camp. From the back stepped a broad man with a slightly graying mustache. He wore no uniform but carried himself with an air of military dignity. One of the figures at the tent removed his hood - this was Rudolfo, the younger brother - and walked to where the man stood.

"Pleasure to meet you, General Karpov," the prince bowed lightly.

"Please, I am General no more," Karpov's much more fluent Russian floated up. "HYDRA offers a more... satisfying sum than Moscow these days."

"And what sum will satisfy you to help us reclaim our rightful place on the throne?"

"Cutting right to business then eh? Let us remove ourselves from this weather."

The two moved into the tent, unaware - naturally - that they were being watched.

* * *

In the north guard tower, standing over the unconscious form of a watchman, grumbled Natasha Romanoff. Her suit glistened in the floodlight next to her, her red hair clung across her face in straight strands. She could be colder, but she certainly couldn't be more soaked. It was worth it though. Tonight was a long time coming.

She finished assembling her gun - a long-distance air rifle loaded with a neurotoxic sedative - and took aim at the man in the east tower. He went down in a heap, clean and quiet. The guardsman in the west tower quickly followed suit. The south tower was too far, but she could manage inside the perimeter now.

Natasha rappelled down the darkened guard tower. She needed to get on the roof of the main tent. Kicking off the side, she landed with a splash on the roof of the closest building. It was going to be hard maintaining her footing in this weather, but going in through the front would be a death sentence.

There still were plenty of men patrolling the compound, but Natasha was pleased to know it was a smaller outfit. This was just a forward camp where the princes lived. The more involved criminal enterprises happened elsewhere on the border.

At length she crossed the slick roofs to the main tent. She drew her knife - Vibranium, a gift from the captain of the guard in Wakanda - and waited for an opportunity.

* * *

Before either of the two guards standing before the table could react, a woman in black dropped from a previously-absent hole in the ceiling, launching a pair of projectiles that quickly incapacitated each.

"Evening boys," she said casually as she stepped over one of the unmoving guards.

" _Chernaya vdova_ …" Karpov breathed.

"The Black Widow?" Rudolfo raised an eyebrow. "The Americans' runaway superhero?"

Karpov shook his head. "She's no hero. She's a trained killer, put in a costume to sell toys to children."

"Oh be nice. I was on balloons and birthday cards too. And a few questionable Halloween costumes. But let's cut to the chase, gentlemen," Natasha drew her pistols. "All I want is my good friend Vasily, here. You let us walk away and no one else needs to get hurt."

Zorba sniffed. "Unfortunately we are in the middle of a business transaction with your 'good friend,' so he will remain with us."

The elder Fortunov looked to his brother, then with a nod they both pushed over the table. Natasha was unphased by the sudden act and opened fire, but she failed to notice the gas lantern on the table. The lamp shattered as it hit the dirt floor, blinding all parties for a moment.

The younger prince took off running, likely to alert the whole compound of the intruder. By the tilt in his gait Natasha guessed that she had grazed his shoulder. Zorba snapped the leg from his chair and held it like a sword.

"I will take care of this wench myself! This will be only a moment General… Karpov?"

He turned around, but his guest was nowhere to be found. The plastic partition separating the meeting room from the rest of the tent was fluttering from recent movement. No sooner had he turned around than she was on him.

The Black Widow sent a flurry of kicks his way, but the heir to the throne of Latveria was no layabout. He had been trained for one on one duels. Zorba deftly back stepped out of the way of her boot and swung the chair leg. Natasha braced with her arm but it caught the stinger on her wrist, busting open the housing.

"Oh, you shouldn't have done that," she looked at him gravely.

"I can do whatever I please. Why not?"

"Because now this will hurt even more."

With a swift motion she closed the distance between herself and the prince and forced the exposed contacts of the stinger into Zorba's right eye. Current arced violently across his face and he fell backwards clutching a smoldering wound.

The Black Widow removed her damaged tool and fled the room deeper into the tent. Karpov couldn't have gotten far. She passed rows of lockers and the occasional water cooler, plus several bulletin boards of maps full of pins and manically-marked surveillance photos. She shouldn't have let the Fortunov Brothers get the jump on her like that. But they had home field advantage. It was always going to be hard to maintain the element of surprise.

At last she came into a large office. The desks were outfitted with dated monitors hooked up to considerably less-dated computer towers. And in the center, looking for an exit of any kind, was Vasily Karpov. Unfortunately, he noticed a flash of motion reflected in one of the screens and wheeled around.  _This was not going to plan_ , she thought.

Karpov drew a sidearm and fired. Natasha ducked behind the table and threw a stun mine behind her. It landed beside the former general, but not close enough to snare him.

"Ah, sloppy work,  _vdova_. You lot were always faulty. I wasted years overseeing a unit of  _females_  when I could have been doing real work for the Soviet Union!"

"Still on that are we?" Natasha slowly worked her way along the edge of the table. "Your program proposal was redundant, and more costly to the Kremlin than exploiting orphaned girls. The audits were pretty clear on that. Still, I can understand why you'd be bitter. Especially after what happened with your son. Maybe if Yeltsin had ordered 'Wolf Spiders' instead of Winter Soldiers, little junior would still be alive."

"Do not talk about my son that way!" Karpov shouted, momentarily letting his gun waver in his hand. That was all she needed. Launching over the table, she fired a round from her pistol into the old man's hand. He dropped the gun with a scream and blood poured from his hand. It all happened in a few seconds.  _Much better, Nat._

"We'd better move quickly, I disabled the guard towers but the Latverians will figure out where we are before too long."

"You bitch!" the general spat.

"Name calling, really Vasily?" Natasha shook her head as she gagged him and zip-tied his hands. "And after all those years of sticks and stones, too."

Karpov was the overseer of her "graduating class" in the Red Room. As one of the top students Natasha had met him on more than a few occasions. She suffered no shortage of torment at his hands. They all did.

The gunshots had attracted Rudolfo and a retinue of gunmen. Natasha attached the old man to a zipline and stowed him in the rafters of the tent. She crouched in the darkness, waiting for them to finish searching the room. She gathered from the soldiers' talk that Zorba wasn't taking his loss very well. While she hid she pondered how she was going to move the heavier man over the fence. She supposed that under would probably be better. Fortunately she thought to keep a laser bore on her - a favorite of Fury's among SHIELD's many gadgets. The rain would help conceal the noise they'd make on their way out.

* * *

Before the sun had risen she had extracted Karpov and made her way back to the temporary shelter she set up in the hills above the camp. She fixed the HYDRA operative with a more high-tech set of restraints.

"You should be honored. These locks are only designed to open for the biometrics of twelve people, and five of them are dead. A little bit of that famed Western Technology you trained us all to sabotage."

He grunted as she hiked him to his feet. "And instead the West has sabotaged you. A once proud weapon of Russia reduced to a costumed celebrity."

She smirked. "Well, I'm sure you know, but they aren't exactly too fond of me back home either."

They were steadily climbing, the Black Widow helping her former superior along in his shackles.

"Yes, I heard all about your betrayal in Germany. How easily your loyalties can shift. And how easily they can replace you."

"Eh, I think we both know there's nobody quite like me."

The old man could only laugh at that. "Is that what you think,  _vdova?_ "

They had come to the river that cut through the highlands. Natasha frowned. What could that mean? She decided it was best not to let him play mind games in the last leg of the journey.

"There's one more feature I particularly enjoy about your cuffs," she said tightening the restraints on his mouth and legs. She gave him a sharp kick and sent him plummeting into the cold rapids.

"They float!"

* * *

She headed back down the hill to her camp. The cuffs had a note instructing whoever found him to call Interpol. Whoever turned him in would receive a sizeable contribution to their hometown from the Stark Global Trust. Tony didn't actually know he was making such a contribution yet, but Natasha figured he'd understand.

She flicked out the antenna on her satellite communicator. Natasha had been in the field for nearly six days, and was curious to see if anything interesting had happened while she was  _incommunicado_. She got her wish when she discovered a number of recent messages from Sam Wilson. The Falcon was elsewhere in Eastern Europe running missions with Bucky.

Concerned about the number of missed calls, Natasha dialed Sam right away. He picked up as soon as she finished dialing.

_"Natasha, where have you been?"_

"Romania, on the Karpov op. I just wrapped up."

_"Okay, good. Stay put, we'll pick you up. You need to get to Munich ASAP. Banner's been compromised."_


	2. Chapter 2

14 Hours Ago

She was in the middle of cleaning her weapon. Again. She hated stakeouts. Still, it was a nice break from dealing with her current employer. It had been quite a while since she visited Germany last. And the target had picked a quaint little corner of it to hide in.

The crackle of her parabolic microphone signaled that the show was about to start. She dropped prone and aimed her rifle at the house. Through the scope she saw a man, olive skin somewhat paled by time spent indoors and hair streaked with occasional grey. A little old by her tastes, but kind of a cutie. Could only be...

 _Gotcha_.

She sat up and reached for her phone. On to Phase Two.

* * *

_You can do this_ , _Bruce_ , he thought as he locked up.  _Just a quick trip for milk and eggs and you're home free._

He tried not to leave the house without Natasha. It was easier to keep a low profile when a real spy was around. But he was running low on supplies. It wasn't that he wasn't allowed out by himself, more that he thought it was safer that way. He and Nat had picked this safehouse out together last year, a nice little cottage away from the city center.

He only made it about halfway down the street when a police car surged around the corner cut him off. Against his better judgment he hoped it was an unrelated incident, but then the driver got out and pointed a gun at him! Before long two more cars appeared, carrying more police demanding his surrender. As his heart pounded with fear a familiar urge fell over him. His roommate was stirring. But he couldn't make a scene. Better to go along with it for now.

* * *

10 Hours Ago

_"Is it done?"_

"Check the evening news tonight," she said cooly. "I always deliver. Especially when the job is this easy." She ended the call.

* * *

8 Hours Ago

Jen was having dinner, a quick bowl of cereal. Late nights at the office mean no time to cook, and she couldn't live off of pizza and ramen. She turned on the television to catch the beginning of the news. That was when everything changed.

**_"Our top story tonight: Bruce Banner, under arrest in Germany. The former scientist and alter ego of the Incredible Hulk has been in hiding since the attack on Sokovia four years ago. Reports that he surfaced during the alien invasions last year are so far unsubstantiated, as no sightings of the Hulk were reported during the course of the attacks..."_ **

Her cereal forgotten, Jen now sat on the floor at the base of her bookshelf, poring over a thick textbook in her lap and a small pamphlet in her hand. After around 45 minutes of intense concentration she pulled out her phone and booked the next flight to Germany.

* * *

6 Hours Ago

"Doctor Banner, so nice to finally meet you."

"I'm afraid I can't agree," Bruce managed a small smile. The man speaking to him was not German. He was American. In Bruce's experience that was worse news.

"Our task force has been looking for you for a long time, Banner. Who would have thought you were living the domestic life in Munich this whole time? We've searched the house. Who is the woman you've been staying with?"

"First off, that's a very personal question I'm not sure I need to answer. Second, I've only been in Germany for a year. I was… in space, for quite a while."

The officer laughed, then slammed the table. "Maybe you don't get it. This isn't a room you can sympathize your way out of. It won't work."

"This is an awfully small room to be willfully antagonizing me in," Bruce's voice rose, and for a brief moment his interrogator thought he saw a shade of green flash across the doctor's eyes.

"Okay," the officer backed off. "You want to tell stories, that's fine. But storytime won't fly when Secretary Ross gets here."

"Ross?"

"I hear you two have a history. He'll be here in about 6 hours. Get comfy. And think very carefully about whose secrets you're willing to keep."

* * *

Now

Natasha flicked off the news feed in the Quinjet's cabin and began selecting her loadout. C-4 would help if there were any walls, smoke grenades, an extra long grappling line. She briefly considered swapping her pistols for an assault rifle.

Bucky Barnes looked over her shoulder at her arsenal. "You know, you can't bust Banner out if you bring the whole building down on top of you."

"If you're going cowboy on this we should come too," Sam called back from the pilot's seat.

"No. Stay in the air for now. We need to do this quickly and quietly," Natasha thought about it and put away the explosives for a smaller breaching charge. "I need to know what we're facing down there."

"What are you thinking, Nat?" Sam asked.

"Bruce is no spy but he's an old pro at lying low. I'm thinking he was found because someone was looking for him."

* * *

Bruce had been detained for hours. At this point he almost would prefer dealing with Ross to the hum of the fluorescent light in his holding cell.

_Banner doesn't have to take this. Banner let Hulk smash, Banner free._

"No chance buddy," Bruce murmured. "Right now we can say we haven't done anything wrong. Might not work but it's true. If we hurt anyone on our way out then that's gone."

_Hulk not hurt puny men. Smash walls. Make door. Banner happy._

"I'll think of something. They have to move us to whichever hole Ross wants to throw me in. Maybe then we can do something."

* * *

"Sir, there's a lawyer here to see you. Says she's here for Banner."

The police captain raised a disbelieving eyebrow. "Did you tell her she's crazy?"

The officer nodded. "She insists that you're violating his rights, and that she's going to go to the chief if we don't let her in to see you."

"The chief is trusting me to handle this until Ross and the Americans come back. Better let me send her off myself."

* * *

Jen adjusted her glasses and stood up as straight and tall as the petite brunette could manage. The policeman lead her into the captain's office.

"How can I help you, Ms…"

"Walters, Jennifer Walters. Defense Attorney. You are unlawfully holding my client."

He smiled. "You are a long way from New York, Ms. Walters."

Jen fished the pamphlet from her bag, opened it to a bookmarked page, and laid it on his desk. Her personal copy of the Sokovia Accords.

"The Accords state that all noncompliant enhanced individuals are barred from unsanctioned law enforcement or vigilante activity. Doctor Banner has engaged in no relevant activity since the Accords were ratified."

"We cannot let the Hulk run free without complying with the Accords. On this at least I agree with the American agents."

Jen shook her head. "Even less relevant. My client has not become the Hulk in over four years, not since before the Accords were ratified! There has not been any actionable threat to hold him for!"

"I don't have the authority to make that decision."

"Yes, you do," Jen looked him in the eye. "Because  _if you don't_ , I go to the papers and create an international incident. With your precinct in the center."

* * *

The door swung open, and before Bruce could react she spoke quickly.

"Doctor Banner, you're free to go. Come with me please," she gestured for him to follow her with a degree of urgency. Once they were outside the precinct she exhaled sharply.

"I don't know how you fight robots and aliens on a regular basis, cuz. That was the scariest thing I've had to do since law school."

"Jen, what are you doing here?" Bruce hissed. He hadn't spoken to his cousin in five years, though more out of a desire to keep her away from his problems than any lack of desire. She was probably the smartest person in their family, even if Bruce had more paperwork behind it. She certainly hadn't tested experimental serums on herself…

"Your arrest was international news. I hopped the first flight out of La Guardia when I saw you were in trouble."

"Well thank you, but they're not going to be happy that I'm out on the streets."

"That's why we need to get you  _off_  the streets sooner than later. The American agents will be back any second. But Bruce, you shouldn't even be in jail, you haven't violated the Sokovia Accords."

"I've told you about Thaddeus Ross. He doesn't need a specific law to want to throw me in a cell."

"Then he's a corrupt ass," Jen sniffed. "Now let's go, I booked a hotel room, then a flight for two back to New York tomorrow morning."

Bruce stopped in the middle of a roadway. The two had been moving through the streets in the small hours of the night, there was no traffic.

"Jen, I can't."

"No, no. This isn't the time to be worried about me. You need to get out of country."

"It's not that," Bruce looked down. "There's someone here in Munich who I can't just leave without telling."

"Like… a  _girl_  someone?" Jen smiled and jabbed Bruce in the ribs. "That's so nice! You deserve it. Hiding out in Europe with a pretty little fraulein, how very Bond of you."

"It's not exactly like that, but we need to get word out to her before we go anywhere."

"Then let's get back and you can use my phone-"

And as she turned to point him towards her hotel, a loud whistle pierced the night. Barely second later an RPG struck the ground between the cousins, sending them flying in a burst of fire.

Bruce coughed as he pulled himself off, a familiar dull pain enveloping his body. Car alarms across the block were wailing and shrieking.

"Jen?"

Through the smoke he could see Jen lying motionless on the cobblestone. He tried to crawl over to her but he couldn't move.

_You not listen to Hulk. Now someone kill She-Banner. Puny Banner rest, Hulk go find. Hulk go smash._

And as Banner collapsed in the smoking crater, the car alarms were overpowered by a tremendous Bellow of rage.


	3. Chapter 3

The first thing Natasha saw was the smoke. Bucky had been monitoring the social media channels; an explosion in Munich, a few unconfirmed sightings of the Hulk. That was where she needed to start.

"Hang on a sec, Nat," Sam flicked some switches on the control console. "Down there."

The Quinjet hovered over the scene of the explosion. No fire personnel yet, it was still pretty recent. But Sam wasn't pointing to that. There was a woman lying about 30 feet from the crater.

Natasha rappelled down to investigate. The woman had superficial burns but nothing too deep. And more importantly, she had a pulse. Must have been right on the outside of the blast radius. She was alive, but barely. Nat motioned for her two allies to land and get the woman on the jet. As they picked her up to move her onto the gurney, she groaned and briefly regained consciousness.

"Bruce," she rasped. "Where is he?"

"She was with him?" Sam wondered.

"Stabilize her," Nat said to Sam. "We can figure out who she is after we save her life. I'm going after Banner."

* * *

 

She fired a grapple line and climbed to the nearest rooftop. With a night vision scope she found a trail of collapsed rooftops leading away from the attack. As she leapt across the rooftops she could hear the sound of the Hulk's roars grow closer. She was beginning to piece together what had happened, but some things still weren't adding up. How had Hulk gotten out of lockup? Who was the woman injured in the attack? And why was he attacked in the first place? The Taskforce knew better than to go after Banner with force.

That was when she saw a small shape dart across a building a block or two up. She needed to get Bruce before he hurt anyone, but her now curiosity was piqued. She cut across a few streets and moved behind a chimney to wait for the mysterious figure.

Her guess proved to be right, as someone else appeared on the roof. It was a woman, blonde hair and dark grey bodysuit caked with dust. A rocket launcher was slung across her shoulder. She stopped for a moment to catch her breath, and Natasha saw her face.

The Black Widow stepped out from behind the chimney and faced the other woman.

"Yelena."

"Natasha," the woman's face first betrayed her surprise, then hardened into a grin. "I suppose I shouldn't be shocked. I heard you were in the region looking for Vasily Karpov. Feeling nostalgic for the old days? When you were still at the top of your game?

"I destroyed the Red Room," Natasha frowned. "I thought you had died there."

"You mean you thought you had  _left_  me to die there," Yelena sniped. "But I survived. The last of the Black Widows. Or I will be, once I've killed you."

"Being the Black Widow is not something to aspire to," Nat shook her head. "You don't want to be where I've been."

"You're right on one account. I'm not in any hurry. You have a lot more left to lose."

"Is that why you attacked Bruce Banner? You think you can get to me through him?"

Yelena laughed coldly. "I went after your boy toy because we have big plans for him. You didn't hear it from me though. Maybe you still remember that a spy doesn't kiss and tell."

"Yelena whoever you're working for, you don't have to do this. You're stronger than what they made you."

"That's cute that you're trying," Yelena strode towards the edge of the roof, "But I do as I please. And the plan my employer has for you and your friends? Pleases me greatly. Now, if you excuse me, I think your big green friend is right behind me. I've already gotten my hands dirtier than I prefer."

"Wait!"

But it was too late. Yelena dropped a flash grenade and was gone. Behind her she felt a rumble, and then a great green form landed in front of her.

"Hulk!" Natasha called, stopping his pursuit.

 **"Hrng?"**  Hulk turned around and saw Natasha.  **"Oh no. Go away pretty lady. No time for sun down. Need to find scary lady. Smash."**

"Yelena's gone, Big Guy. Why don't you come back with us and we'll help you find her."

**"No! She kill She-Banner. Need to smash!"**

"She-Banner… the woman who was caught in the blast?

**"Mm. She know Banner, Banner upset. Goodbye."**

"Hulk, stop! She's alive."

**"Hrn? She-Banner - is alive?"**

"She's back on the Quinjet. Come back with us and Bruce can see her."

* * *

"They're back, Buck," Sam opened up the door, and Bruce and Natasha entered. Bucky emerged from a side room and brought Bruce a change of clothes.

"Where's Jen?" Bruce asked immediately.

"Clothes first," Bucky said. "She's stable, but barely. Lost a lot of blood."

"Who is she, Bruce?" Natasha put her hand on his shoulder.

"She's my cousin. I think I mentioned her once. I haven't kept in touch much since the accident that created the Hulk."

"That's right. The lawyer."

Bruce finished buttoning his shirt. "She flew in and convinced the local authorities to let me out. Legal jargon of some sort."

"She's a brave one. If the Americans were there they would have arrested her too."

"It would have been worse than that," Bruce said. "Ross himself was coming to take me in. I don't know what kept him, but if he was there… we need to focus. Get Jen to a hospital. Wanted or not they can't withhold treatment."

"They'll be looking for you there," Sam gestured out the window. "Even if we could get her somewhere in time, you'd be taken into custody before you were two steps through the door."

"I don't care."

"Let's not be too hasty Bruce," Natasha put herself between the two men. "A blood transfusion will stabilize her long enough to get out of German airspace."

He paused a moment. "Hm. Okay. We have all the machinery on the Quinjet. But we need a compatible donor. Jen is…"

He looked over the instruments. "O - Negative. That's not good."

"We need a perfect match then," Bucky frowned. I'm B - Negative."

"A - Positive," Falcon said.

"AB - Positive," Natasha said. The KGB valued agents they could patch up and redeploy easily. "What about you, Bruce?"

The scientist didn't answer.

"Bruce?"

"O - Negative is common in my family. I have it too."

"Well then-"

"No! It's not even up for debate. I'm not putting anything from my blood into her!"

"Bruce," Natasha tried to comfort him.

"Nobody deserves what I've got," he said quietly.

For a time nobody moved. The only sound in the Quinjet was the rush of air outside and the beep of Jen's heart monitor.

"It's true that we don't know what will happen. But if you don't do anything she  _will_  die. Wouldn't you at least want to know that you tried?"

Bruce paced across the floor. Then he finally rolled up his sleeve. "Jen saved my life. Hopefully she won't wish I didn't save hers."

* * *

The transfusion went smoothly, and about an hour later Jen was stabilized.

"Now that that crisis is over, let's go back to the first crisis," Bucky said. "Munich is compromised."

Natasha turned to Sam. "Bruce was apprehended by members of the US Taskforce. You know what that means."

"Mhm. We go to Code Red."

Bruce squinted. "Code Red, what's Code Red?"

"It means one of the worst case scenarios. Ross is actively hunting us."

"Before he seemed content to let local authorities deal with Accord noncompliance," Bucky turned to the doctor. "But he's wanted all of us since the airport. We've always thought this crackdown might come."

"And there's a third party," Natasha added. Sam and Bucky looked at her. "The attacker. Somehow they knew that Bruce was arrested, and that he got out. So we need to figure out what they were planning tonight."

She glanced at Bruce, a look conveying she wasn't telling the whole story.

Sam seemed to pick up on it as well. "Okay then. First thing's first, we'll get Jennifer Walters back to New York."

"I think I want to keep my eye on her a little longer," Natasha said. "Leave me and Bruce off along with her."

"Whatever you say," Sam said slowly, still somewhat confused.

* * *

The team got some sleep, and a few hours later were back over the US. Natasha and Bruce met in the bunks.

"Bit of a scare last night, eh Bruce?"

"Natasha I'm so sorry, I never should have left the house, I-"

Natasha put her finger to his mouth. "Hush. There's nothing you could have done. A lot of things are happening and we haven't got out in front of then yet."

"What aren't you telling us? You met that woman on the roof that the Hulk was chasing."

"It's about something I heard on my mission," she said.

"Oh yeah!" Bruce had nearly forgotten with all the drama. "Did you find Crapoff?"

"It's Karpov, but I like yours more," she laughed. "I did. And he said something that has been bothering me since I met that woman."

"You can tell me. I've been told I'm a good listener."

She snickered again, then her face hardened. "I'm not the only Black Widow."

* * *

The elevator opened and out stepped Yelena Belova, wearing much more standard office attire than she had the previous night. She sauntered past the secretary; she knew the way. She never liked making the trip, but she knew the way just the same. A voice met her as soon as she opened the door.

"What  _were_  you thinking?"

 _Here we go_ , she muttered. Seated at his desk was Thaddeus Ross, the US Secretary of State. The older man's eyes were full of rage.

"If your kind was supposed to be the best the Kremlin had to offer, it's no wonder the Soviet Union collapsed. You might be worse than Romanoff."

"Are you done?" Yelena glared at the politician. "If you are, we can get to business. I got us enough plausible deniability to keep the pressure off of us until we find Banner again. Before we arrested 'some guy.' Now we're arresting the guy who trashed Munich."

"He shouldn't have been out in the first place! I asked you to handle it. This is not handled."

He slammed his fist on the table.

"Damnit! I want Banner. You of all people should know that."

"Yes, it was a grand night for pet peeves," Yelena said dryly. "Romanoff was there too."

"Romanoff," Ross swept his white hair back. "Jesus. Are we going to have a problem, here?"

"No. We have something even better. I did some digging after the jetlag finished kicking my ass. Little Miss Lawyer isn't just some well-intentioned busy body. She's Jennifer Walters, Bruce Banners' cousin."

"She was in on it?"

"I don't know. But now we have a reason to ask her. If we want the Hulk we need only put out some bait. And where he goes, Romanoff follows."

"Two birds, one stone," Ross nodded.

"Exactly," she grinned. "Now, mind your blood pressure, let the new hires and I bring in Walters, and we can get back on track."


	4. Chapter 4

"Of course you're not the only one," Bruce said. "You've told me about the Red Room before. There have been Black Widows since World War II."

She nodded. "But when I tore down the Red Room, I thought that was the end of it. There were loose ends, and Karpov was supposed to be the last. Then I met Yelena. Or should I say, met her again.

"The last time I saw her was 2005. I had been running missions for the KGB for three years by then."

* * *

_I was just coming back to the Room from a mission. It was a bad one. I had already done terrible things in my short career but this one… really got to me. And I suppose that was the beginning of it. Didn't sleep that night. Or the next two after that. It was a hard enough hit that it must have dislodged what was left of my conscience. I knew I had to bring down the Red Room._

_I spent the next several weeks building up a network. Turn over a rock or two and there's no shortage of people who hated what they were doing in the Program. The hardest part was convincing them that I was on the level._  Chernaya Vdova  _was the name that kept people in the homeland up at night. When trust didn't work that fear was just as effective. Didn't take long at all to spin my web. All that was left was for them to fall into it._

T _he following night was the night of the graduation ceremony. And top of the class was this girl. Yelena Belova. She had one of the best records the Program had ever seen. Almost as good as mine. I remember passing her in the hall on the way to the ceremony. She seemed ready, as ready as anyone could be for that sort of thing. But if you have any doubts you learned to hide them real quick. She looked more ready than I did, that's for damn sure. I should have said something. Should have done… anything. But I didn't._

_The Kremlin has a lot of resources, but their technology has always lacked the finesse of the West. The Red Room's nerve center might have been harder to disable if the top brass weren't attending the Graduation and if I hadn't been an elite agent of espionage and covert assassination. There were two guards outside of the room, three inside. Some of my fellow Widows. I… think you know what I had to do next. Security was old school. Closed circuit. After I disabled it, I went to the barracks and gathered up the girls. Seventeen, Fifteen, Thirteen. The ones who were still in training. The ones who still had a chance._

_No words were necessary. We ran. Ran upstairs to the dance studio the Red Room had been built under. I met an old couple in town who could take the girls far away. The KGB wouldn't be able to find them; they'd be too busy with what came next. I took one last look at the studios, the long wall of mirrors, the floor of matts, the pegs still full of pairs of slippers._

_I heard someone behind me, calling out to me in confusion. I'm sorry to say I don't remember her name anymore. As soon as I heard her voice I turned around and shot her. It was the last thing I did in the Red Room._

_Once I was out in the street I detonated the bombs. A charge at every load bearing column on the floor, sending the entire above-ground structure crashing through the floors below in a hail of fire and rubble. It was like the earth swallowed up the whole place. I couldn't stay long to see the aftermath, I would have to learn about it after the fact. Some people like Karpov were away when it happened and survived the fall. But all the reports said that everyone inside the facility was lost…_

* * *

"All except one, it seems," she finished with a sullen look. "She thinks I tried to kill her. And she's right. I couldn't include anyone for fear they were too far gone. That they'd expose me. There were 36 people down there that night. I'll never forget that number."

Bruce was silent for a long time. "You don't tell many people that story, do you?"

"Not exactly my finest hour, but probably the best example of the kind of person I am."

He gave her a small hug. "Nat, the things those people did, to you, to so many others? You rose above that. No one can blame you for that."

She took his hand in hers. "There's something else. I haven't quite made all the connections, but I don't think your arrest coinciding Yelena's attack were a coincidence. Karpov said something about them replacing me. I think we're in another of our famous messes."

"We almost made it a full year this time, that has to count for something."

"I told her last night that she shouldn't want to be a Widow. Be me. Nobody deserves what I've got," she smiled joylessly, echoing his own words.

"I certainly don't deserve you," he placed a hand on her shoulder. After a moment Natasha shifted.

"You know what I try to think about these days?"

"What's that?"

"How many girls I got out that night. I don't remember the exact number. I don't know why I decided to fixate on one but not the other. But ever since the Avengers I feel like I need to realign my priorities."

"I think that's a very good idea."

* * *

"Well this is me up here," Jen motioned to the door at the top of the stairs. Bruce was carrying her overnight bag while Natasha helped her up the steps. They were back in New York City for the first time in years. Bruce had been here just a year earlier fighting two of Thanos' alien henchmen, but it just wasn't the same. And then came the Decimation…

"This is where you're living?" Bruce looked around. "Shouldn't a lawyer be able to afford something a little more… upscale?"

"Smart attorneys skip the penthouses so that they have money for other things, like last minute red eye flights to Germany," Jen looked at him with a grin.

"She's good," Natasha said, "I'm gonna take a look out the windows, be right back."

Jen leaned forward to see how far she had gotten. Then she turned beaming to Bruce.

"Okay, so I completely misread that situation. You and Black Widow! That makes so much sense."

Bruce squinted. "It does? Er, I mean, why wouldn't it? But out of curiosity… what makes sense about it?"

"She's so strong and confident, and you're so… you. You've always been a mess, a bundle of nerves. Even moreso now I'm sure. You compliment each other perfectly."

"Are you like this with all your clients? So presumptive?"

"Oh I wish. Family I can handle, but in public? I'm lucky I can muster up the courage to speak in court. That's why Natasha has always been my favorite Avenger - no offense. She fights bad guys, she has great hair, and she's not afraid of anything."

"Don't believe everything you read," Bruce shook his head. "Natasha is amazing, but none of us are invincible. We're more alike than you'd guess."

"Neither of us are people to cross, for instance," Natasha appeared in the doorway. "Hurting you was the dumbest thing these people ever did."

"Right. Master spy," Jen smiled sheepishly, realizing she had been listening the whole time. "Thank you, but I'll be okay."

"You need to rest. Heal. Call your doctor, take a few days off."

"I'll certainly be working from home. But I don't actually feel all that bad, considering what I just went through. Maybe it's still the adrenaline."

* * *

Maybe it was the adrenaline. But Jen was able to remove her bandages less than a week after the explosion. She was still singed and bruised here and there but her wounds had healed quite splendidly. Her doctor had never seen a recovery quite like it. For her part, Jen felt fine. In fact, she felt better than she had in a long time.

Natasha and Bruce had rented a rundown, no-questions-asked apartment a few blocks from Jen's. A far cry from their chalet in Germany, this at least afforded Natasha a staging ground for this new mission. Every morning and evening she tailed Jen to and from work, observing her pattern and watching for any blind spots. Bruce remained behind, monitoring cameras along the route and in front of Jen's apartment. Natasha was afraid that they weren't the only people watching Jennifer Walters, and soon her fears would prove well-founded.

One night Jen was returning home from a shopping trip when Natasha saw the man. To most people he was just another face in the thinning crowd on the streets of the Lower East Side. But if one were looking for it, they could see that he dipped his head under his hat whenever he crossed in front of a building with a camera, and that he always maintained at least four people between himself and Jen.

_Seems like a man worth chatting with_ , Natasha thought.

As the man passed in front of an alleyway she stepped in front of him.

"Excuse me, I-" and she surreptitiously thrust her stinger into the man's neck until he went limp, then hurried him into the alley.

"Okay pal, time to talk," she scowled. "What are you following that woman for?"

"No te dire  _nada_ , Viuda!" the man spat.

_"Do you speak Spanish?"_  Bruce's voice crackled in her ear.

"Enough," she responded.  _"Suficiente para ser persuasivo."_

"Elle me matara, no debo…" But he stopped short and went pale, dry heaving.

"Come on, answer me.  _Hablar_!"

_"What's happening, Nat?"_

"He's not moving. He's been... poisoned." Natasha felt him over and noticed a small dart lodged in his shoulder. She looked around. No sign of an attacker, but she wouldn't have left one anyway.

_"Is he alive? Bring him in and we can run a tox scan."_

"No need," she sighed. "Paralysis, vomiting. It's latrotoxin. Extremely concentrated."

_"You've seen it before?"_

"You could say that. It's a message. Latrotoxin is made from the venom of a black widow spider."


	5. Chapter 5

The man was Venezuelan, that much they could determine from his dialect. He had a sizeable gang tattoo on his forearm that Natasha's databases couldn't immediately identify. But it was another peculiar wrinkle in the story that she didn't need. After that run-in nothing else suspicious happened for several weeks. Then one morning, Natasha was watching Jen set off for a jog.

"5 in the morning, a mile and a half, three days a week. Maybe _I_  should blow myself up…" Natasha muttered.

"Who?" Bruce sat up from where he was napping. "What time is it?"

"Early. Go back to bed. I'm just talking to myself."

"Oh. Sorry."

She smiled. "Don't be. You're cute when you sleep and you don't snore. Easiest stakeout I've ever been on."

* * *

A few hours later, Jen returned from her run. She felt like she could go for another lap, she was so full of energy this morning. She went up to her apartment, showered, and got ready to head into the office. But as she headed down the stairs, a pair of men came around the corner from the alley where the dumpsters were. She paid them little mind until she reached the sidewalk, when they suddenly increased their pace to intercept Jen. She wheeled around to see three more men flanking her from the other side.

Natasha was on the roof with her scope at this point. She saw the scene unfolding and prepared to jump down to street level when she saw something incredible.

As the men grabbed Jen, the tiny woman tossed them both to the ground. Her eyes sparked a bright green and streaks of dark emerald shot through her veins. She took a step forward, then a much heavier one. She looked at her hands, swelling and flushing with green color, and realized that she was now several inches taller than the men before her.

"What's happening to me?" She called out. The fabric of her coat groaned and hissed as the seams split and tore. One of the men pulled a stun gun from his belt and fired it at Jen; the contacts harmlessly sputtered on her bulging arm. She wheeled around and regarded the man she now towered over with blazing eyes. Her toes split through the soles of her shoes as she launched herself towards the attacker. The man squealed as the seven foot tall woman hefted him above her head and slammed him into one of his companions.

"Don't touch me, you creep!"

" _Puta merda_!" One of the other men shouted.

"What the hell?" Natasha whispered. She reached the sidewalk and rushed to the now fully green giantess' aid. She shocked one of the three remaining men into submission and called out to Jen.

One of the attackers gestured for his remaining teammate to look.

" _Viuva Negra! Precisamos de reforços!"_

Jen turned and saw Natasha standing over the downed thug.

"Nat? What's going ACGHK!"

This time Natasha could see the arc of electricity, and as Jen fell she discovered the source. A van had pulled up on the scene, and hanging out the back with a rocket launcher was Yelena. The spy watched as Jen shrunk back to her normal size.

"Get her! Get her NOW!" She barked with a wild look on her eye. One of the two remaining men helped the attacker Jen had slammed to his feet, the other scooped Jen up. Natasha unsheathed a baton and threw it at the fourth man, grounding him before he could get in the van. The truck started rolling away, and with a cold gaze Yelena drew a high-powered rifle and shot the incapacitated man. Sensing her intentions, Natasha dove in front of the first man she took out. But Yelena simply fired again, striking  _through_  the Black Widow and into the unconscious form behind her. Mustering enough strength to draw her pistol Natasha emptied a clip into the retreating vehicle, but Yelena closed the door, their eyes meeting for a moment before she lost sight of the blonde.

_"Natasha, what's going on down there? I heard gunfire!"_

"Damnit," the redhead groaned. "Yelena has Jen."

_"What? No. How? No!"_

"Five men and a vehicle. I took a hit, can't pursue."

_"Oh god, Natasha I'm coming down there."_

"No! I need you up there to man the computers. The sooner we figure out who these guys are the sooner we can figure out where they took Jen."

After treating her wound with a Kimoyo Bead - and thanking herself again for not getting into a fist fight in that parking garage with King T'Challa's bodyguards when they first met - Natasha searched the bodies. These guys were organized, more soldiers than spies. But not soldiers working for any particular country. No patches or badges or anything. Except...

Nat got out her phone. "Bruce, sending you an image. Guys have that same tattoo as before, but he was speaking Portuguese, not Spanish. Expand our search to all of South America."

It didn't take long after that.

" _El Raios_.  _The Thunderbolts,_ " Bruce read. _"That explains it. The first guy was Venezuelan but the gang is Brazilian."_

Natasha pinched the bridge of her nose. "Yelena. Your cousin. A South American Militia. What's the connection?"

_"We can figure that out after we find Jen."_

"Agreed. Luckily, Tony kept the Satellite from the old days online, and left a backdoor into the systems for friends and relations. I'll be back in five minutes and we can take a peek. But there's also something else you should know."

* * *

Yelena took a deep breath as she looked over Jen, her small frame slumped on the a bench in the van's interior. She was concerned that the Hulk might show up, so she made sure to pack something a bit more Hulk proof this time. But when the door opened and she saw Walters there, huge and green and beating her men into submission. It wasn't part of the plan, and Yelena hated that.

She called Ross. "We're all done here, Boss. Wheels up in 30. But, uh, tell Doc to prep the big cell. And maybe call ahead and get us more sedatives for the plane ride. This just got a  _lot_  more interesting."

* * *

"Bruce, you need to breathe. Don't turn green on me now."

"I'm not the only one who has to worry about turning green anymore! I knew it was a bad idea to do that blood transfusion." He raked his face with his hands. "What have we done Natasha?"

"We saved her life," Natasha said with frustration. "Currently she is  _not_  safe but she  _is_  alive. We need to focus on those two things."

"She must be so scared," Bruce was nearly whispering.

"Something was different, Bruce. She recognized me. Said my name. She could  _speak_."

"Speak? The - the Hulk could barely speak two words when he first manifested. It took years of uninterrupted time for him to learn rudimentary sentences, how could she be capable of speech?"

"It's definitely a problem for a scientist," Natasha muttered. "Damn. Traffic cameras were all disabled. Covered their tracks."

Bruce looked at his own screen. "I have FRIDAY looking into all private flights out of the area and into Brazilian airspace. They won't need anything very large so we'll see if we can catch it on the satellite."

"Chances are they're taking her to a black site. It's going to be well guarded. Are you gonna be able to follow me in quietly, and possibly exit less quietly?"

"Nat, Jen is my family. I'm prepared to break into or out of anything with you, no matter what color I need to turn to do it."

* * *

Jen came to in a large glass cylinder. Beyond she could see a wide, advanced looking lab.

Her clothes were tattered, and she suddenly remembered her transformation in front of her house. She was huge, and green! Like Bruce, like the -

"Ah, finally awake! Welcome to my lab, Ms. Walters. I trust those troglodytes outside delivered you here unharmed?"

Jen hunched down lower in the cell. "Who are you? Where am I?"

The source of the voice moved out from behind the bank of instruments and Jen held her mouth to stifle a scream. His face was a pale green, and his skull distended unsettlingly up from his forehead, coming to a flattened top and laced with bluish veins. Beneath the hairline was an old but still rather unsightly scar.

"All in good time. We will need to discuss much about out your newfound gifts."


	6. Chapter 6

"I am the Leader of this… trivial research initiative," the bizarre figure said, twisting his thin little mustache around with one hand. "An obvious choice of course. I am the foremost expert in gamma radiation, save perhaps for your Doctor Banner. I was expecting to host him here eventually. Your cell is built from SHIELD specifications to contain the Hulk. But you present an extraordinary opportunity, a specimen like none other. Or rather, like  _one_  other."

"I don't understand anything you're saying," Jen pleaded. What do you want with me and Bruce?"

"Your potential. What we've always wanted! The Hulk was born out of a desire to create super soldiers. No one's ever been able to get the ratio right, but you might just be the closest yet!"

"You want to make… an army of Hulks?"

"Please try to keep up, Ms. Walters," he frowned. "The Hulk is raw power, uncontrollable, unoptimized. Ill-suited for mass production. But Doctor Banner's work clearly has potential."

He gestured at his bulging skull. "I've got a bit myself. As do you. But something is different here, wouldn't you agree?"

* * *

"It was diluted!" Bruce snapped his fingers. He and Natasha were in the air over the Gulf of Mexico, heading for where they hoped Jen was being held.

"If my blood diluted the radioisotopes in my system, i-it would have reduced the potency like any other chemical solution."

"So she gets the strength and the change in complexion, but not at the cost of her brain power," Natasha mused.

"Did you notice anything... different, behaviorally?" Bruce asked.

"No. Mainly, there was fear. Then they hit her with a high-powered taser."

"Hm. Poor Jen, she didn't ask for any of this."

"I hate when they drag regular people like her into these scenarios," Natasha scowled. "It's one thing when one of us gets kidnapped by robots or dropped off of a flying boat. We can handle ourselves. It's another thing entirely when they use civilians to get to us." She groaned and reached for her side.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" Bruce asked, "You were shot less than twelve hours ago, you should really get looked at."

"I'll need to get it looked at after the mission," she nodded. "The beads will do the trick for now. It was a clean shot, expert work. I've only seen one other person manage it before - also through my midsection, as it happened. Guess I'm lucky." She ran her finger over the small bump above her waist. At least this one wouldn't leave a scar.

"I need to get out in front of this, Yelena and her employers are always a step ahead."

* * *

A chute opened in the floor of Jen's cell and a plate with a chicken sandwich and some sugar cookies raised out of it.

"You must be starving. Get your strength back up and we'll begin testing."

Jen looked at her captor. "Testing?"

"Of course. I can't do any of my work with you in your current diminutive form. We need to do strength testing, stress conditioning, and - most importantly - behavioral analysis."

"But... I don't know  _how_  to turn into the Hulk. It's only happened once so far."

"Not to worry," the Leader said. "Your cousin produced an ample set of test scenarios. All we need to do is get your heart rate up, be it anger, fear, physical exertion, what have you. The important thing for now though is that you eat."

"I don't want food, I want to go home!"

"You might not want it, but you do  _need_  it. I took the liberty of drawing some of your blood while you were unconscious, rehydration is very important."

"You  _what_?"

"I've already begun putting my own little signature on the formula. The first results are quite promising."

He turned around when he heard a thunderous slam against the glass. "Oh good, I feared we'd have to resort to electric shock."

"You have no right to take my blood without my consent!" the now Hulking Jen growled. "You have no right to detain me here without a warrant! How stupid do you have to be to kidnap an Avenger's relative? Their  _lawyer_  relative? What are you going to do when they show up? What are you going to do afterwards when I get  _my_  turn?"

"I quake beneath the superior intellect of a… law student," the Leader sniffed. "But the part about the Hulk coming here to rescue you? We do have a plan for that. In fact, that  _is_  the plan."

* * *

"I don't know about you, Doc," Natasha said, "but if I were to kidnap a US lawyer and hide her in South America, this is the place I'd do it."

Underneath the cloaked Quinjet was a sprawling compound built around a handful of large concrete buildings. Either old hangars or factories, Natasha thought. Most of the other buildings in the area were newly constructed, couldn't be more than two years old. And patrolling the pathways between each were members of El Raios, carrying bigger guns and wearing more body armor than a common cartel really ought to be outfitted with.  _But nothing else is where it should be on this mission_ , Natasha thought, _so it's par for the course._

"Gamma readings are way above normal down there," Bruce announced. "Particularly in that building in the center. Should I just drop you right on top?"

"No. I'd rather work my way in from the outside so that we have a window to get her out."

"And you really want me down there with you?"

"This is a bigger operation than I like to do solo. Even if you only watch my six you'd be helpful. If things get really bad we might even need a Code Green."

"I'm sure he'd love that."

"Let's try it the quiet way first."

* * *

The grotesque man had left her now. Jen sat alone in the large glass space. She stared at her hand, protruding from her shredded coat. What was happening? How was she going to get out of this? She could always talk her way around a courtroom, but words couldn't break through glass this thick. Hell, even her punches when she was hulked out couldn't so much as dent the stuff. It was hopeless.

Her thoughts drifted to Natasha Romanoff. The Black Widow had been there when she was captured, trying to save her. It sounded as though she was bait in a trap set for her and Bruce. If only she could contact her somehow. She'd know what to do. She'd take out the weird little man and anyone else who wanted to hurt Jen and her cousin. The thought of it stirred that sparking feeling in her body again. She stood up. So far she had turned into a Hulk twice without knowing how. Perhaps she should try to do it herself this time. She wasn't going anywhere, after all.

She tried to internalize the way she had felt the last two times. Angry? Scared? No, it was something a little more than that. She wanted to fight back, to act on that anger, that fear. Jen had learned over the course of her career when to fight for something and when to let it go. The longer she practiced law, the more she seemed to have to accept the latter. But there were times she wished for that wide-eyed idealism from when she was still a freshman lawyer. The determination that used to burn in her.

With sounds of protest from her ruined outfit she felt herself surge upwards, her skin once more blooming with green. Now that she was by herself she could really process the change. Her business attire was at least managing to keep her modest. Everything she  _could_  see; however, was green. A vibrant shade of it stretched over the thick cords of of her biceps and calves. Her hair spilled out over her shoulders in unruly deep emerald waves. Even her brown eyes were now a mottled olive. She was tall - Jen figured she was at least six-six - and she had to weigh half a ton with all the muscle she now sported. She felt  _good_. Even better than the last week of jogging had made her felt. Like a part of her had been missing, but now there was suddenly much more Jen to work with.

"This might not be so bad after all," she said to herself.

She no longer felt so dire about her situation. This prison was meant for the Hulk. All brawn and no brains. But Jen was still herself in this body. She was no caged animal. She had a law degree from UCLA.

They had no idea who they were dealing with.


	7. Chapter 7

The pair had left the Quinjet on automatic standby and infiltrated the compound with one of Natasha's laser bores, and were slowly making their way deeper inside. Bruce wasn't nearly as acrobatic as a Black Widow, so they couldn't do anything fancy. And Natasha was trying not to raise alarm. She was kitted out for silent war this time. A pack of extra suppressors for her pistols, cartridges for the Widow's Bite stingers in her wrists, and a short range jammer for the cameras. The cameras were particularly tricky, as Natasha couldn't determine where they all routed their footage to. She much preferred the low-budget operations that had to rely on sentries. Bruce, for his part, had a night vision scope and Nat's sniper rifle slung across his back.

Now they were on a sheltered rooftop overlooking the whole base.

"Okay, maybe the quiet way won't work after all. The central compound is surrounded by an electric fence. No climbing, no clipping, and from the look of it, no digging under."

Bruce frowned. "What if we were able to sneak in through the front? Take out a pair of goons, dress up and pass right through?

"One of my favorite methods," Natasha grinned. "You should see Clint trying to pass for Hungarian. But it's always trickier in warmer climates where the outfits cover less. Even so, it's probably best we don't press our luck."

"Well then how do we even get in?"

"If we disabled the fence, we would be able to get in and get out with Jen without having to get too elaborate. We just have to find the power station. Shouldn't be too hard."

"That looks like it," Bruce pointed down to the south end of the complex at a shorter structure with a large grid of wires arranged to its side. "How will we know which relay powers the fence?"

"We won't. That's why we're going to take out the power for the entire base."

Bruce blinked. "Isn't that going to alert… everyone on the base that we're here?"

"Mmm. Most likely," she shrugged with a wry grin. "We'll have to work fast once it goes down. Clear the area first so we can make ourselves scarce. What can you see?"

"There's one guard at the door," Bruce reported. He handed the scope to Natasha.

"Let me see. 3, 4,  _5_ … Ooh. That's a tough shot," she scrunched her nose.

"Even for you?" Bruce asked.

"I've actually never been especially good at range, I'm sorry to say. My specialties are more up close and personal. But luckily I know an expert…"

* * *

"Honey, can you get the phone while you're up?"

"Just don't look at my cards while I'm gone!" Clint snarked as he stepped into the kitchen.

"Hello?"

_"Hey Barton, it's Nat."_

"Well well, look who's back on the grid! How have you been?"

* * *

"Oh, can't complain," Natasha shifted her weight to get a better view down the sight. "Listen, I know it's family game night, but do you have a sec? I need your eye."

_"Gonna be a little tricky over the phone. And I gotta say, Go Fish is pretty hard to tear yourself away from. Is this about that excitement in Germany a few weeks back?"_

"I don't know what you're talking about," she smirked. "I'm not even in Germany right now."

_"Uh huh. Copy that. Well what are we looking at?"_

"About 620 yards, target is… maybe 12 feet below me?"

_"Wind heading?"_

"Uh, I'm facing south, the wind is blowing northwest."

_"Northwest is pretty vague, Nat."_

"What's up, what's he saying?" Bruce whispered.

"He's just being difficult," she shook her head then went back to the phone, "It's more west than north. Look, I stopped carrying an anemometer as soon as we stopped going on regular assignments together. I only have so many pockets. It's not blowing very hard."

_"Oy. Okay, so you're going to want to move maybe ten to the right of the target, any more and you'll have overcorrected. No promises though, Miss Anemometer."_

He relayed a few more instructions and Natasha lined up the shot and fired. It pulled a full half a foot to the right of the patrolling guard, pinging off the wall with a loud bang that sent the man leaping to the left and out into the stairway, where he fell, rolled two more times, and lost consciousness.

_"Did you hit him?"_

"Heh. Got any threes?" Natasha smirked and hung up the phone.

"What did he say?" Bruce asked.

"Clint sends his love," Natasha said coolly. She watched as a trio of confused guards left their posts to help their comrade to the infirmary.

"Let's get that power off. I've got a stop to make on the way."

* * *

Yelena Belova was on the outdoor balcony of the lab when she noticed some guards leading a man away from his post.

"Medical Team - report," she spoke into her walkie. She was met only with static.

"Anyone want to report in? What's happening down there?"

Still nothing.

" _Shit_ ," she muttered as she took off in the direction of the soldiers.

* * *

"A page out of the Fury playbook - really old school," Natasha had explained as they finished walking the lengthy distance to the power building. "Two pieces of short range tech can be one piece of long range tech if you Frankenstein them together. It will buy us a few extra minutes of chaos when the fireworks start. It's not full coverage but it will create a dark zone for as long as the components hold up."

Gingerly, she knocked on the front door of the power station. When someone went to investigate, she planted a round in his leg and kicked him back across the threshold. Three more Thunderbolts jumped from their seats at the intrusion, three more fell to the ground clutching their legs when she opened fire again. The Black Widow popped a sizzling silencer from the barrel of her gun and applied another in a month motion. Bruce, his head still ducked down as if to avoid more gunfire, followed behind.

Natasha gestured at the control panel "Would you like to do the honors?"

* * *

Bruce had mentioned something to Jen about the Helicarrier where the Avengers first met having a cell for the Hulk. Thor's brother had tricked him inside of it, but Thor survived by hitting a weak point enough times with his hammer. Jen was fresh out of magic hammers, but if she could apply enough force to knock the cell off its moorings she might be in business.

She must have looked almost comical, she thought, running back and forth like a mad woman from one side of the cell to the other.

That was when the power went out.

* * *

_How? How did she get in? I'm the Black Widow. Me, not her. This cannot happen._

Yelena jogged through the alleys of the compound. The guards were of no help. She knew that Romanoff was behind this somehow. But where was she? She had to be after Walters, but Walters was behind…

At that moment a loud crackle rocked the base, and everything was plunged into darkness.

"No, no no NO!"

Thinking quickly, she shot up a flare and climbed to the nearest roof. Sure enough, two shapes moved across the darkness towards the base of the now less-than-electric fence. She unslung the bazooka from her back and surged towards the two intruding Avengers.

* * *

"Get your torch out, we're going right through."

Behind them an explosion announced that their brief window had come to a close.

"I don't know how you got in here," Yelena's voice howled from the rooftop she ran across, "But I know you're leaving here in a body bag!"

"We don't have time for the torches," Bruce said grimly. "Get Jen, I'll buy you some time."

His body tensed up and the Hulk swelled into being. He tore an entire segment out of the fence and tossed it into the building where Yelena was. Then with a roar he leaped into the distance.

"Take that thing down!" Yelena barked, no longer caring if anyone could hear her. She navigated around the rubble from the fence thrown by the Hulk, and chased after Natasha.

"Oh come on, give me a break," Nat groaned, catching sight of her counterpart closing in on her. If she couldn't get to Jen now that the alarm was raised someone else would, and she didn't know how much of a priority her life was to the people running this operation.

"Yelena! Yelena we're taking Jen out of here, and no one else needs to get hurt."

"That's pretty ballsy considering I'm the one with the army of mercenaries and you're the one who has to get past our defenses!"

The dull roar of the hulk could be heard over the flames in the center of the compound.

"I don't think he cares much for your army," Natasha shrugged, still backing towards the entrance. "You took his cousin, that makes him angry. And you wouldn't-"

Yelena took a shot. Nat dove out of the way and drew her own gun. And then things became truly chaotic.

Out of the front of the large concrete building, now bathed in the growing flames, a glass cylinder crashed through the wall. It was laying on its side and spinning like a wheel, with a very large green hamster running inside of it.

The glass splintered but didn't break as it hit the ground, and Jen lost her footing long enough to do a somersault inside the whirling cage. In between the dizziness she saw the Black Widow, laying down suppressing fire on the blonde woman who took her the previous day. Regaining control of the rolling cell, she turned it in Yelena's direction and began gathering momentum.

The two dueling Widows, for their part, had certainly noticed Jen burst onto the scene - Natasha in particular was making an effort to keep her in her line of sight. But each was focused on their current goal; Yelena was trying to kill Natasha, while Natasha very much wanted not to kill Yelena. Even as she rolled and dodged Yelena's bullets she was aiming at her feet or at her sides, anything to incapacitate. Unfortunately, they both had the same training. Grazing shots might as well have been total misses, and Yelena moved too swiftly to corral into one spot. But even Yelena couldn't multitask when one of the tasks was a Hulk in a jar charging at her.

"Come on, lady, give me a piece," Jen muttered. She was anticipating something very specific, and when Yelena put away her pistols in favor of her rocket launcher she knew she was going to get it.

"Yelena no!" Natasha locked her arms and lined up another shot. She connected with Yelena's ankle, but the younger Black Widow fought back the pain and launched a rocket at Jen. At the same time, Jen launched herself backwards into the opposite face of the glass.

Yelena's shot took out the last thing holding the cell together, and storming out of its smoking wreck came, to Yelena's dismay, a still-living Jennifer Walters.

"Hey there. It's Yelena, right?" Jen bore down on the smaller woman.

"Get back!" Yelena called out. Her eyes were wide. She had never been this close to a Hulk before. Nat could relate, but Hulks weren't so bad once you got to know them. Unless of course, they knew they didn't like you...

"C'mon! Let's tussle!" Jen grinned, pushing off against the ground and leaping several feet into the air, ready to come down on top of her captor. Yelena fired a grapple and zipped away, leaving only a smoke bomb in her wake. Jen could see the fear in her eyes as she lost the blonde in the cloud of smoke.

"The Quinjet is on its way, Jen," Natasha called to the large green woman. "We can go after Yelena later."

"Whatever," she tossed hack her hair. "But we're not going out by plane. I just found us a better exit."

She grabbed Natasha and tossed her on her back.

"Oh no," Natasha said blithely as they launched into the air. She saw the Hulk tearing apart the south end of the complex as they sailed over.

"Hulk! Over here, big guy!"

Hearing her go by, he turned from his business and vaulted into the air.

Yelena watched them go down somewhere over the treeline, then lost sight of them through the growing haze of the fire.


	8. Chapter 8

"All of you are fired," Yelena blew a strand of hair from in front of her face. A number of the Thunderbolts were helping with cleanup, but Yelena had dispatched most of the garrison into the woods to find her Hulks.

"My beautiful lab!" the Leader whimpered quietly, wringing the hair on his overlarge head.

"Oh, you're upset now," Yelena rolled her eyes. "Save it for when the boss gets here."

"Miss Belova!" He stammered. "You don't mean to tell me that Secretary Ross is coming  _here. Now?_ "

"Of course he's coming. We were all set to spring our trap and bag us two Avengers at once," Yelena said coldly. "This was going to be the Initiative's first big victory. But now the bait's slipped the hook, and we have nothing. I thought that cell was built to SHIELD specifications?!"

"It was," the man nodded. Though SHIELD's anti-Hulk system had a redundancy to drop the Hulk into the sea upon contact with the glass. We didn't have that option, so there was always room for error. Evidently our newest green tenant didn't take too kindly to hearing about my research. A simple conclusion, for a simple mind."

"Wait, what did you say?"

"A simple mind. Law is held in such high regard, but all it requires is simple reading comprehension. In fact-"

"Shut up. Did she see your research? Does she know about the serums?"

"Heard about them, yes. I find an audience stimulating while I work."

"Doc, I think you just saved our bacon."

* * *

"Coast is clear for now," Natasha reported. They were deep in the forest, huddled around the Quinjet and - hopefully - within its stealth fields and out of any instruments El Raios were using to search for them. Bruce hadn't turned back yet, and Jen was intently watching him lumber around the clearing.

The Hulk looked at Jen for the first time since the three had landed. His face was scrunched in dissatisfied thought.

**"Hulk confused. Only one Hulk, and that Hulk! Who is She-Hulk?"**

"Heh. She-Hulk eh? We can work on it. Bruce, it's me. Jen."

**"She-Banner?"**

"Is that what you call me? Yeah, I guess that does make sense."

**"She-Banner is She-Hulk now?"**

"I guess I am. But I'm not sure why I'm so... in control."

"In control is right," Natasha commented. "You really have a handle on your Hulk form. The difference is kind of staggering."

"Less muscle, but more brains," Jen agreed. "Works for me. I don't think I could live with talking like a nitwit."

**"Hulk not nitwit, Hulk strongest there is!"**

Jen smirked. "I rest my case, your honor."

**"She-Hulk mean! Hulk like She-Banner better."**

"Well, maybe you're a bit less inhibited than the Jen I knew," the Black Widow stepped between the two Hulks as Jen stuck her tongue out at her cousin, "Big guy, you mind giving Banner the wheel for a while? I could use a hand."

 **"Fine,"** Hulk grunted. He stuck his tongue out as well, then fell convulsing as Bruce shrunk back into view.

"Bruce!" Jen shouted as he sat up. She grabbed him in a big hug.

"Jen! You're safe! But you're also squashing my rib cage!"

"Oh my gosh! Sorry," Jen said as she released the embrace. "I guess I don't have the fine control down yet."

"No, it's fine, it's fine," Bruce wheezed. "You're here, and - and… is this what it's like? When people look at me as the Hulk?"

"Well no offense, but I think I'm still the better looking one," Jen bit back another laugh. "Although, do you have a change of clothes? My suit is pretty shot."

"Not in that size we don't," Natasha chuckled.

"Oh yeah. Um, hang on a sec." Jen closed her eyes and concentrated. Slowly the green faded from her skin and soon she was her diminutive self again.

"Aw man, that's just not fair," Bruce mumbled. "It took me ten years to get the Hulk to change back on his own."

"It's not quite as easy as it…"

Jen groaned and dropped to one knee. Nat rushed to her side with a blanket.

"Your adrenaline rush is running out," Bruce put a hand on her shoulder. Take it easy for a few minutes, you should be alright."

"I can't believe I really just did that!" Jen gasped. "It was crazy! It was… wow."

"I'm glad you're out of there Jen," Natasha said after a while. "But we need to pick our next move. The mercenaries will be sweeping the forest for us."

Bruce nodded. "Jen is safe, that means we can get out of here, right?"

"Um, I don't know if we can yet actually," Jen shuffled her bare feet. "There's this weirdo, he took some of my blood. He wants to use it to make an army of super soldiers!"

"That's impossible. The Hulk barely listens to me and Nat, a few dozen of them could never behave as a unit."

"He's tweaking the formula somehow. He's got a big brain, literally. I only just remembered because there was so much going on."

"I never got the formula out of its earliest stages working for the army," Bruce muttered. "But even the Blonsky formula would be a disaster if they can bypass the aggression amplification like you have."

"Then we need to destroy that formula," Nat said. "It's the only way to be sure."

"And you better count me in, too," Jen held up her tiny fist.

"You just had a traumatic 24 hours,' Bruce balked. "A person in your condition needs rest, not... warfare."

"I still have some business with those clowns. And now that I have these powers, my 'condition' has never been better."

Bruce looked at Natasha for help, but she only shrugged. Best not to get involved.

"Fine. No sense going in short-handed. But keep close to me."

"But this time we're taking the plane. I've had my fill of Fly-By-Hulk today."

* * *

The Quinjet hovered into its short jog back to the Thunderbolt Compound.

"Try this on. We have time to make some quick adjustments to it."

Bruce deposited a grey and purple shirt in Jen's lap. She felt the fabric with her hand.

"What is this made of? It's so odd."

"It's a special polymer, it adjusts to your growth without ripping. We made a full suit last year for the Hulk, but he didn't like the shirt. But you could make use of it."

She held it up. The shirt was clearly sized to Bruce; it hung halfway to her knees.

"I suppose I could make a onesie out of it," she said dryly. "Or maybe an overcoat. Thanks, cuz."

"I never would have imagined I could actually talk to someone with firsthand experience about all this," Bruce shook his head. "Let alone you."

"I'll admit it's a little less weird being able to ask you for help," Jen said.

"Do you feel angry when you're… She-Hulk? Any major changes to your mental state?"

"Sometimes. It's more like I feel unstoppable, so I don't need to hold anything back. But the weirdest thing of all is that I feel…  _right_  when I'm a Hulk. Better than I do as Jen, I think. It's a little scary."

"That is… different," Bruce frowned. "But as long as you feel alright, we shouldn't have anything to worry about."

"I agree. Now let's see what I can do with this shirt. Do you have a sewing machine on your super spy plane?"


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It looks like I have about two more chapters after this one, then I'll be taking a short break. After that, I'm planning another shorter story about the Fantastic Four, followed by the much-anticipated (for me anyway) sequel to my X-Men fic. Thanks for reading, everyone!

_In the growing light of the morning, a helicopter surges at top speed over the expansive rainforests. Inside an aged hand clicks a pen in and out obsessively. Its owner seethes in anger. He needs to end this. To end **them**._

* * *

"We lost the element of surprise already, plus we're not playing around this time," Natasha announced as she opened the door to the Quinjet. "We're jumping straight onto the main building. Jen, Hulk up and make sure Bruce makes a safe landing. I'm diving first."

As Jen grew into her new costume and picked up her cousin, Natasha slung a backpack over her shoulders and jumped from the plane. She was a bit hesitant to use this particular toy - Tony had, after all, built it with a raccoon. But she was also a little offended that it took Iron Man nearly a decade to make his earthbound friends jetpacks.

Bruce would have none of it, so he was descending the old fashioned way: in the arms of a plummeting gamma-powered giant. The heavier She-Hulk passed Nat on the way down, curling herself into a ball with Bruce between her knees and chest and slamming into the roof. She kept going straight through. When she reached the proper height she pulled her cord and a with a gentle sigh the nearly silent repulsor thrusters came to life on her pack. She gently worked her way down towards the hole, amused at what she might find further down.

* * *

 

The doctor was leaning on a broom overlooking what was left of his lab. Jen created quite a mess in her escape. He fell backwards in shock as a chunk of the ceiling suddenly caved in and did a double-take when he saw Jen emerge from the subsequent cloud of dust.

"Hey doc. Miss me?"

Then he noticed Bruce brushing himself off next to her, and Natasha entering the hole in the roof behind her. "Ah, so many familiar faces today!"

"Doctor," Natasha said coolly. "I admit, I'm surprised. I'd ask if the Raft let you out on good behavior but I'm not seeing anything good going on."

"Certainly nothing you would be able to appreciate," he said dryly. Then he gave a small wave to Bruce. "Hey there, Mr. Green."

Bruce squinted as he analyzed the Leader's facial features. "Sterns? Samuel Sterns? What happened to you? Did you... use my blood on yourself?"

"That's a generous use of the active voice," he frowned. "I experienced some... cross-contamination during your escapades in Harlem all those - what was it, ten years now? How time flies. I was never able to discern the specific cocktail that oozed its way through the wound in my skull. But it enhanced by mind in the same manner with which your experiment enhanced your muscle. I had knowledge - more than anyone can ever dream of! - and then your friendly femme fatale came and shipped me off to the Raft."

"And you're going to be shipped back if you keep running your mouth, Sterns."

Yelena now joined the four from the other side of the lab. Four guards flanked her, all armed.

"Natasha, Natasha, Natasha," she chided. "You can't seem to leave well enough alone."

"How's your leg?" Natasha asked flatly.

"I'll live. Not sure I can say the same for you just yet."

Jen took a step forward, and the soldiers raised their weapons.

"Uh uh, keep back, or my boys will test out whether you're as bulletproof as your cousin."

"I'd like to see them try, Blondie. People like you always go after us little people, but when they're suddenly not as little, you can't take the heat, eh?"

"Back off, Jen, Hulk down. We'll play along for now."

Jen wheeled around to face Nat. "Natasha?"

"I think I've figured it out," Natasha closed her eyes.

"What are you talking about?" Yelena's forehead creased. She turned her pistol on her old classmate. "Figured what out?"

The Black Widow opened her eyes, staring through the younger spy. "You're pretty good for all your lack of subtlety. Sure the South American gang ties threw me off for a while, but really it's because the most logical solution was so very insane I didn't want to think it was true."

"And what solution is that?"

"That this isn't just a shadowy crime syndicate you joined up with. It's a black op. From the United States."

Yelena's face paled. "That's crazy," she said unconvincingly.

"It is a little crazy, Nat," Bruce whispered. "We're a far way off from a counterintelligence setting."

"Exactly, it shouldn't even be a consideration. But what other conclusion is there to draw? After all, this all started when they arrested you, Bruce. Sterns is a genius, and he has a history with you. But he's got no horse in this race."

She turned to Sterns. "Am I right? You don't blame Bruce for what happened to you, do you?"

"Blame him? I'm twice the scientist I was before our happy little accident."

Natasha nodded and continued. "But in the US Banner has a number of enemies. Especially high ranking ones these days. Cross-chatter between agencies back when SHIELD was hiding his whereabouts called the Hulk 'the big one that got away.'

"You think I didn't notice the slow response time from the authorities? Someone was calling the shots, they just needed a reasonable front to keep the spotlight off of them. The only question is who that person is, though I think Bruce and I both know that isn't really a question at all."

"You're very perceptive, Ms. Romanoff," a man's voice came from higher up. "A dangerous quality in a traitor."

Coming down a dented stairway from the helipad on the roof was Secretary Thaddeus Ross. Two service guards flanked him as well.

"You never did stop looking for the Hulk," Natasha said. "Ever since you helped create him. SHIELD hid him from you, and then the Avengers protected him from your judgement. And then Sokovia."

"I did not create the Hulk," Ross began, exhaling loudly. "Doctor Banner is a grown man. He should take responsibility for his actions. But then if that had happened none of us would be here."

"But what is the play here?" Bruce asked. "You've hired an army, you let a criminal out of prison, you kidnapped a civilian? Are taxpayers funding this? How many more laws are you going to break? Do you hate me that much?"

"Let's make something very clear," Ross didn't break the scowl he had aimed at Bruce. "The moment the Accords were signed, you lost all of your rights. You think someone as dangerous as you can just retire and let bygones be bygones? Don't talk to me about law."

"That is such a crock of it!" Jen bared her teeth. "You're the Secretary of Defense! You can't just pick and choose what laws you follow!"

"I am the Secretary of Defense, yes. And in that capacity I am also the US supervisor of the enforcement of the Sokovia Accords. That means it is the will of the UN that I do everything in my power to bring down those who endanger this world with their vigilantism. That includes you three. But as to your other question, yes Banner. I really do hate you this much. You've done more harm to my life than two tours in Cambodia. I've been waiting a long time for this."

"That sounds healthy," Natasha rolled her eyes. "All this hate has certainly been politically expedient for you."

"It's true that my heart condition required me to retreat to… greener pastures, but I spent the last decade well. Building my case against your kind, waiting for one of you to slip up. Banner managed to hide himself for four years, but now there's no more running, no more hiding. Just facing your fate like a man."

Bruce spoke up. "Okay so one thing; two of those years I wasn't hiding, I was actually trapped in an alien fight pit on the other side of the universe."

"Wait, really?" Jen asked.

"Yeah, it was pretty awful but I met some nice people. I can tell you about it later."

"I don't care about your lies," Ross interjected. "Let's wrap this up Yelena."

"Lies?" Jen shouted. "You know aliens exist. They've invaded Earth twice already."

"I don't care. We'll need to relocate you and Doctor Banner since you broke out of your cell. For Miss Romanoff, I think I'll recommend extradition back to Russia. I'm sure they have room in a gulag for you."

"Charming," Natasha muttered.

As Yelena and the guards began handcuffing the trio, Ross went over to Sterns' desk and held up a red syringe.

"Is this my sample?"

"Indeed, sir," Sterns nodded, "Still a prototype of course."

"You see," he said, walking to Bruce and waving the syringe in front of his face. "This is all you needed to do. This is all I wanted. But you felt the need to keep it from me for ten years.  _Ten years._ Betty still won't speak to me, you know."

"You've seen what the Hulk can do, Ross." He tried his best to push that name from his mind. "You saw what Blonsky did. You know better than anyone why I couldn't let you weaponize it. No one can control the Hulk."

"She can control the Hulk," Ross pointed at Jen. "Once we figure out how, our military will regain its position of superiority in the world. And then all of your friends will finally be obsolete."

" _If_  we can figure out how to replicate it, that is," Sterns interjected. "There appears to be a generic component. It explains shared skin tone and stability of the transformation between both siblings."

"Don't share proprietary information in front of the prisoners!" Ross snapped at him.

"You're not going to create a whole army with one little bottle of gunk," Jen said quickly.

"Naturally. I keep the rest of the samples in cryogenic storage in that cabinet over there."

"Shut it Sterns!" Yelena ordered. "I thought you were smart! Get these freaks out of here."

When it seemed that the conversation had ended, the guards lead them out of the lab. Jen turned back to Nat, her eyes pleading. Natasha waited a few more beats, then nodded her head.

As soon as she did, Jen hulked out, shredding her handcuffs and sending the two guards on either side of her flying to the ends of the lab. She charged forward towards

As Jen pulled the guard off of her friend, Natasha deftly picked the lock and rolled out over to wear the last two gunmen were holding Bruce. They held up their guns, daring her to step forward. She simply shrugged, and fired two clips from her stingers as she placed her hands above her head. They found their marks and electrocuted the soldiers, allowing Bruce to escape.

Yelena's gun quavered in her hands as Jen bore down on her. The She-Hulk wrapped Yelena in a bear hug and Natasha pointed her gun at Ross.

"Give us the samples, Mr. Secretary. We don't want to hurt anyone. That's never what we wanted. But we  _will_  fight our way out of here."

"Not to you. Not ever!" Ross shouted, and in a moment of pure mania, he plunged the syringe into his arm!


	10. Chapter 10

Everyone froze as they watched Ross seethe in the middle of the lab. The syringe splintered in his hand. and his eyes glowed a wrathful amber.

"You idiot," Bruce said quietly, his fists balled in front of him, still shackled. Then his voice rose louder, and small streaks of green ran up his neck. "Ross! You idiot, how could you do this to yourself?"

"Me? ME?" The older man's flesh rippled underneath his suit. His face grew a lurid shade of red. "This is all your fault! You little parasite. Everything is wrong because of *you.* My career in the military - my DAUGHTER - all GONE because you couldn't just do what you were told!"

He closed the distance between them and shoved Bruce with the force of a small car. Then with a bellicose howl his body surged from out of his clothing. His back broadened and shredded the fabric, his fingers curled and contorted into thick crimson cords of flesh. Toes popped the seams of his shoes as his lower body rushed to support the weight of his growing torso. The silver roots of Ross' hair stood out sharply against the deep red of his new skin, perhaps slightly whiter now than before.

"Even now you taint EVERYTHING YOU TOUCH! Your cousin is MUTILATED. You even dragged your traitorous little sweetheart into this mess! And you know what? This whole awful world full of unchecked vigilantes is your doing too! New York, Sokovia, DC? I wanted an army of soldiers strong enough to fight those battles. You were supposed to give them to me! But you FAILED, and now all we have are CLOWNS and MONSTERS who think they know BETTER THAN THE REST OF US!"

He moved to slam the ground where Banner lay, but a giant green hand caught his fist before he could connect.

**"Mustache Man always mean to Puny Banner. Always blame Hulk. Now he just like Hulk, only red. You Red Hulk now! Red Hulk!"**

"SHUT UP."

**"Red Hulk! Red Hulk!"**

"GRRAAAAH!"

Jen scooped up Yelena and Natasha in either arm. "Let's take this outside ladies."

Sterns grabbed at his bulbous head. "not again! You lummoxes are going to destroy my lab!"

* * *

She-Hulk dove through the wall and onto the balcony of the main building. She dumped the two Widows onto the floor (Yelena somewhat less gently than Nat).

"I'd say Sterns' research is pretty much kaput," Jen called to Natasha. They both looked at the two Hulks ransacking the lab in their fight.

"I'm going back for the Quinjet."

"Go," the Black Widow said, reloading her gun. "I'm gonna take care of something."

Yelena was picking herself up when she saw Natasha stride towards her, clutching her side.

"Please Natasha, are we really going to do this with you in that condition? I'd put be happy to put a few more holes in you, even the score."

"Likewise," she groaned, maintaining the ruse long enough to swing around and shoot Yelena in the abdomen with pistol she had hidden behind herself.

"Looks like I'm up two to one," she tilted her head and grinned, holstering her weapon. Then she charged.

The two Widows clashed with their batons on the balcony.

"I don't want to kill you, Yelena!" Natasha shouted. "But keep it up and I'm going to start second guessing myself."

"You already failed once before. What makes you think you can do it now?"

She kicked Natasha in the stomach and the redhead rolled over the edge of the balcony. But she grappled underneath the catwalk, swinging across over the other side and striking Yeleba twice with one of her batons as the blonde wheeled around. Natasha connected her batons into one staff and used it to push Yelena up against the guard rail.

"You know what the Red Room does to people. I didn't know who I could trust!"

"Your treachery cost all those people their lives. We knew what they did - what we were prepared to let them do - and you decided we were better off dead than serving our country."

"Yelena listen to me! I know what serving them means. It destroys you. The Black Widows did the dirtiest work the intelligence community could come up with."

"And who says we're all as delicate as you?" Yelena found her pistol and fired from the hip. Natasha sensed it with just enough time to roll out of the way, unpinning Yelena from the railing. The blonde spy kept firing just in front of Natasha, forcing her to backpedal down the railing.

"That's it, crawl. That's how I survived the fall of the Red Room. Crawling on my knees, smoke choking my lungs, to the escape tunnel at the bottom of the facility. Crawling over all the people who didn't make it that far, or who tripped one of your booby traps on their way out. I survived by crawling. The same can't be said for you. A shame. I was hoping to drag this out."

"Then for once, I think I can help you," Natasha breathed. She unsheathed a hidden knife and lobbed it at her foe, the blade cleaving a lock of hair from the side of Yelena's head as she dodged away.

In that moment most of the roof collapsed on the warring Hulks as Bruce and Ross tumbled through the floor and down several levels. Yelena saw a brief opening as Natasha glanced around to make sure their balcony was stable. She kicked her older counterpart square in the midsection, sending her careening into the void after their two monstrous comrades. Natasha heard Ross' voice as she struggled to regain her sense of direction.

"The happiest day of my life was the day I walked into your house and told you the world DIDN'T NEED YOU anymore! You may have fooled them into thinking they still do, but I see through all your flashy outfits and dogooder speeches. You people are CRIMINALS, and I'm going to put ALL OF YOU in the ground!

Natasha lashed out with her grappling hook and landed deftly on the ground floor of the building. She looked up long enough to see Yelena rappelling down, taking pot shots and giggling manically all the way. The redheaded Widow melted into the shadows; she figured she had about 90 seconds before Yelena found her, so she took stock of this new battlefield.

Doctor Sterns was passed out in a pile of rubble about 5 years from her. A beam of dawn illuminated Hulk lying unmoving in the center of the room. The Red Hulk limped out of the shadows and began heaving at the Hulk's unconscious form, trying to lift the mountain of veridian muscle over his head and into a pile driver. But his foe was evidently only playing possum, for as soon as he got the Hulk off the ground the green giant snapped to life and flew into a frenzy.

As Hulk reversed the hold, Yelena landed. Nat lost her batons somewhere above, so this fight would have to be fists from here on. She vaulted over the rubble she was crouched behind and fired a ranged Widow's Bite at Yelena. The blonde was able to fight through the pain, but not without dropping her weapon. She and Natasha traded kick after kick, jab after jab.

Meanwhile, Hulk grabbed Ross by the legs and swung him headlong through some of the precious few support columns left in the room. Red Hulk had gotten good offense in so far, but Hulk was the Champion of Sakkar. So what if all if his opponents were electrocuted by that weird guy whenever they started winning? That only happened a few times! Red Hulk leapt to his feet and sent a haymaker into his opponent's jaw. Hulk spit out some emerald blood and then tossed a fist of his own into Ross' face. They traded face shots a few more times before switching to headbutts.

"This is only the beginning, Natasha!" Yelena shouted as she pulled a knife from her boot and swung it at the rival Black Widow. "The days of the Avengers are over! "

Natasha was seriously considering just shooting her at this point. She needed to wrap this up before the Hulks brought the whole place down. She only had a few gadgets left...

"And when your family is burnt to the ground, you'll be next."

"Okay, so your plan is to take down the remaining Avengers. Any other intel you want to reveal for me?"

"Wha-"

"I've been fighting monologuing supervillains for years, honey. You're not as different as you think."

Yelena screamed in rage and fired a ranged Widow's Bite at Natasha. Natasha had been readying one of her own while she stalled the enemy spy and fired as well. The two Bites connected at the same time, and the battle was abruptly halted as they each flew backwards.

By now both Hulks were reeling from multiple blows to the head. Drunkenly hobbling around in a circle, Ross wound up for one final megaton punch. The Hulk wasn't so disoriented as to miss it, however. He met Red Hulk's left hook with one of his own, and their fists collided with bone shattering force. Masonry dust rained down from the ceiling as they recoiled, shaking the pain from their arms. Small tremors still lingered from their clash, and they didn't stop as the air above Ross began to shimmer with heat.

"No… can't… focus… GRAAHH!"

Ross flashed an even brighter red, and the Earth around them cracked and buckled. Hulk's eyes widened, and he rushed over to where Nat and Sterns were.

"What's going on?" Natasha called to Hulk.

**"Red Hulk going boom! Pretty Lady get behind me! Banner smash me if you get squished!"**

The light inside of Red Hulk's body boiled and pulsed, illuminating veins and arteries up and down his titanic form. Then, with a final howl everything went white.


	11. Chapter 11

Natasha woke up with a cough. The morning light was filtering through a thick layer of dust in the air. She looked around. First priority was survivors.

"Yelena!" she called out. Where was she? She lost track of her right before Ross' meltdown. But she caught a flash of yellow above her after a few minutes of searching. Yelena was pinned nearly 20 feet up in a mound of rubble. Natasha thumped her grapple a few times to get it operational again, then ascended to check on the young Widow.

She was caked in dust from head to toe, her limbs limp and her breathing haggard. Plenty of cuts and bruises, but she was alive. Again.

_Lucky girl_ , Natasha thought to herself. She heard Hulk dig himself from out of the rubble. The green giant was breathing heavily and nursing his arm. Doctor Sterns was slung over his shoulder.

"Rough morning, Big Guy?"

**"Hng. Red Hulk strong. Not stronger than Hulk - no one stronger than Hulk. But maybe just a little bit as strong as Hulk?"**

Natasha found Ross lying prone in a deep crater. She realized now that they were actually several feet below ground level, the force of Ross' outburst having pushed the building up and out of the ground like a huge nest.

_How the hell are we all still alive? Natasha_  thought.

**"Big hole,"**  Hulk summed up bluntly as he looked around.  **"Give Hulk good fight though. Not fight someone like him since Purple Guy."**

"That's… a very high bar. How were you able to beat him?"

**"Hulk been Hulk since forever. Mustache Man only Hulk for little while. Couldn't handle it. Ha. Silly Mustache Man. Puny."**

The two looked up as the Quinjet emerged from cloaking. Jen emerged from the cockpit and checked to make sure everyone was okay. The remaining members of El Raios had scattered after the blast and the area was clear. Now the lawyer stood at the rim of the crater.

"So it's over then? Is he?"

"Dead? No. He's just out cold. I'm not out for assassinating heads of state these days."

"What happened to him?" Bruce had now rejoined the group at his normal size his arm was covered in bruises. "It was like a… a bomb. Maybe it was all that pent up gamma energy from the serum? But we'd be dead if it were radioactive."

"If he released it all, hopefully that's the last we see of the Red Hulk," Natasha mused.

"We should be so lucky," Bruce frowned.

Jen took the unconscious man's arm and began to write something on it in pen.

"What are you doing?" Bruce asked.

"Leaving my number," she said. "Something tells he's gonna need a lawyer when he wakes up."

* * *

_**Shocking news out of Washington DC tonight, the Pentagon has released a report detailing the arrest of Doctor Samuel Sterns in Brazil for kidnapping and human experimentation. A former associate of Bruce Banner, aka the Incredible Hulk, Sterns was previously in US custody, before negotiating his release. Sterns is believed to be responsible for the Hulk attack in Germany several weeks ago. The arrest involved further attempts to manipulate the Hulk's blood for weaponization, and it has been reported that Banner's cousin, New York lawyer Jennifer Walters, was also a victim of the incident.** _

_**"We were lead to believe that he could use his genius to pay off his debt to society, but clearly society is no place for him."** _

_**Secretary Ross, shown here in his press conference earlier today, has vowed to return Sterns to maximum security internment in a former SHIELD facility for superhuman criminals.** _

_**"On behalf of the US Government, I would like to extend my deepest apologies to Ms. Walters and her entire... family."** _

"At least our jade giantess will keep quiet now. That cash settlement will set her up nicely for the rest of her life."

Yelena and Ross were wathcing the news in his office. Ross had one arm in a sling, a glass of whiskey in the other. He was standing stock upright, looking lie he had just done one too many tours in Fallujah. Or wherever he served. Yelena never paid attention to his tales of the glory days.

"She can't pin the Thunderbolts for her abduction," Ross said. Ice cubes rattled in his drink. "But I think this is going to blow up in our faces one way or the other. People like her don't leave well enough alone."

"And what sort of people is that, boss?"

"People who think they're heroes."

* * *

Six Weeks Later

It was a packed courtroom, though few people were there to watch the proceedings.

The plaintiff rocked nervously in his seat as he stared at Jen.

"I don't get paid enough for this," the old man representing him muttered as he ran a hand through his mustache.

"All rise. The Supreme Court of the State of New York is now in session, the Honorable Judge Robert Chalmers presiding."

At the bailiff's request everyone in the room stood up, including all seven green feet of Jennifer Walters.

After he entered and the bailiff sat everyone down, Judge Chalmers greeted the court.

"Good morning. Before we get started, will the defense approach?"

Jen nodded and strode over to the bench. The judge found himself meeting the eye level of the green attorney.

"Welcome back, Ms. Walters," he said quietly. "It is my understanding that your… situation has the same lack of permanence as your cousin's?"

"Yes Your Honor, though - as I do not believe my physical state will impact my ability to defend my client - I have elected to conduct trial this way at this time."

Judge Chalmers looked at Jen for a moment. She was wearing a brown suit tailored to her much larger dimensions. An oversized pair of reading glasses sat on the bridge of her nose, and her dark green hair was tied in a tight bun. If she weren't green she would look like any other attorney to stand in his court. And really, did anything else matter?

"I trust you will not cause a scene?"

"All due respect Your Honor, if you let me do my job I'll let you do yours."

"Indeed. Very well. Let's begin the proceedings. You may return to your seat."

* * *

_Attagirl_ , Natasha grinned as she watched Jen return from the bench.

"Excuse me."

Nat looked down to see a little girl next to her in the gallery.

"Can you do a picture? You're my favorite Avenger."

Nat leaned down and feigned confusion. "Me? Not the Hulk? He's pretty cool."

Bruce coughed and pulled his baseball cap a little further over his eyes.

"No, you! I want to be Black Widow for Halloween this year, but my mommy won't let me."

"To be fair to your mommy, they make some pretty silly costumes of me," Natasha tried not to laugh. "But maybe if you make one together she'll like it more."

"Okay!"

After the little girl left with her picture saved, Bruce turned to the Black Widow.

"Not very covert, Nat."

"Trust me, they know we're here," Nat jabbed him lightly. "But they  _aren't_  here. Their play didn't work, so they'll need some time to lick their wounds and come up with a new one. We'll be long gone by then."

"Where are we headed?"

"For now? How about the front steps?"

* * *

Nat sat against a pillar. "Do you think I did the right thing, letting Yelena walk away?"

Bruce picked a step in front of her and sat down as well. "I imagine it was hard for you."

"I've made an enemy of her. And I probably deserve it. She'll keep coming for me until she gets what she wants. But she's as much a victim as I was. I didn't do any of the things I did that night to kill people. I had to kill a system made of people. Now there's no system, and Yelena's just a person."

"And people can change."

Natasha smiled coldly. "But I don't think she wants to. She certainly doesn't want my help changing if she does."

"It's a mission for another time, that's for sure. We could use some down time, heal my arm, your abdomen."

"Maybe we can head somewhere warm next," Natasha closed her eyes and thought of a beach. The two sat in silence for a time, listening to New York's symphony of angry traffic. At length Bruce cleared his throat.

"I still don't think I've thanked you enough. For saving Jen's life."

"The way I remember it, you saved it first. Though you took some convincing."

"Well, I worry-"

"You? Cool-as-a-cucumber Bruce Banner?"

"I  _worry_  about hurting people close to me. Jen and I weren't so close before all this, but she's still family."

"I know she is. And you're my family."

Bruce smiled sheepishly. "I don't know how Ross can call you a traitor. You're one of the most loyal people I know."

"He's not technically wrong. I've burned bridges, and they've come back to haunt me. But only because I realized those bridges weren't taking me anywhere I wanted to go. Ross didn't want to understand that the Avengers had me when I had nothing else. They're  _all_  my family, even if we're a little smaller and a lot far apart these days."

Her voice caught in her throat a little as she said this, but she soon recovered.

"And I'd do anything to protect them. Anything."

A small beep punctuated their heart to heart as Natasha got a call on her communicator.

"Hi Sam," Natasha spoke into the phone. "You're just in time, I was starting to get sentimental."

_"Uh, Okay. Well, I've got some new leads on the whole Latverian Revolution situation. I can send you the details. Let me know if it's anything you want in on."_

Natasha looked at Bruce. He shrugged. "Beach first or Beach later?"

The Black Widow smiled. "Can you and Bucky hold the fort for a long weekend while I go over the files? I think something just came up."

* * *

 

* * *

**|Black Widow: Code Red|**

* * *

 

* * *

"Ms. Walters!"

Jen turned down the music in her earbuds and looked down to see a reporter team gathered on her stoop.

"Can I help you?"

"We're from Channel Six. Ms. Walters, you're the world's first superhuman lawyer. Can you tell us why you've been doing trials as a Hulk?"

Jen thought about it for a moment. She could easily transform and run away faster than any paparazzo could chase her. But this was a question she was hoping someone would ask.

"I want people to see that enhanced individuals, of which there are surely more of in the world than we know," are not all superheroes and supervillains. Some of us justead normal lives. But rather get now our rights to normal lives aren't protected. There are glaring flaws in legislation like the Sokovia Accords that don't do anything to distinguish between vigilantes and simple working citizens."

"Are you going to take this argument to court?"

"Someday soon," she nodded. If the Accords were meant to protect us, it should protect all of us. Now if you excuse me, I'm going for a run."

She turned up her tunes again and set off down the street.

* * *

Yelena flicked on a light, and opened up the black folder on the table before her.

"Thank you for coming out to meet me, I know your time is valuable."

"You can thank the Secretary's check clearing for that. I find his money to be just as valuable as my time."

"There's probably a joke about ethical consumption under there, but I'm certainly not one to talk. The USSR was about as Marxist as a pair of glasses with a fake nose."

"But you digress, surely," the person on the other side of the table said shortly. "I didn't fly out here to discuss wordplays with an assassin."

"Certainly not," Yelena flicked the figure a sheet of paper from the folder.

"I'm here to talk to you about the Avengers Initiative."

* * *

 

* * *

_[A/N]: When I first started writing this story, it was a short side project to seed some ideas for the bigger stories coming up. But as of late I've grown really attached to this story, and I hope you all liked it too. I enjoyed writing Natasha a lot, so as long as I have anything to say in the matter…_

**Black Widow Will Return**


End file.
